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Todays' Irish News

Yes, there are many news items not included here. We deliberately avoid: politics, death, disaster and other mayhem.

Friday, November 20, 2009



Major disruption caused by widespread flooding
Drivers in Cork and Galway are being advised to postpone all journeys after some of the most intense and sustained rainfall in 30 years caused widespread flooding in the south and west. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Don MacMonagle

Fifa turn down FAI request for replay
Fifa have moved quickly to dash hopes of a replay of the Republic of Ireland’s controversial World Cup play-off exit to France in Paris on Wednesday night. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Belfast Telegraph

Reaction: Ireland's Controversial Exit
Highlights, analysis and reaction from RTÉ Television, Radio and News to Ireland's controversial exit from the World Cup at the hands of Thierry Henry and France. For more details, please click RTE.

McCann joins ranks of the great
For Colum McCann, the Dublin-born, New York-based writer whose ‘ Let the Great World Spin ’ won the US National Book Award on Wednesday night, the prestigious accolade helped make up for Ireland’s defeat to France – "just about", he says. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Tina Fineberg
Related Story: This one's for Frank

Recession delivers a record new baby boom
Recent statistics revealed that while in the midst of a recession the country was also in the grip of a baby boom with a record 75,065 births registered in 2008. Jack and Ava were the most popular baby names. For more details, please click Irish Herald.
Photo Credit: Passion For Life

More boys born in Ireland than girls
The Republic’s Central Statistics Office shows that male births have consistently outnumbered those of girls every year since 2000.Last year 36,472 girls were born, but the boy boom continued with 38,593 males making their debut. For more details. please click Belfast Telegraph.
Photo Credit: Yeah Baby

Memorial recognition at last for one of GAA’s founding fathers
After lying quiet and unrecognised for years, the contribution of GAA founder John McKay has been loudly commemorated in a London cemetery. A delegation from Ireland was in attendance for the unveiling. For more details, please click Irish Post.



Past Two Weeks
November 19
Calls for rematch after Henry admits handball
Liam Brady has called on Fifa to schedule a rematch after Thierry Henry’s handball denied the Republic of Ireland a place in the World Cup finals. Henry has admitted handling the ball in the build-up to France’s winner and even claimed he informed the referee of the foul. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit & related Story: RTE

Bets off - bookies offer goal refund
Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball before playing it for William Gallas to score the equaliser which saw France win 2-1 on aggregate. William Hill and Paddy Power are refunding stake money to customers who backed the Republic to qualify. For more details, please click BBC.

“the most significant Irish publication of the 21st century so far”
That's according to Taoiseach Brian Cowen at the launch of the nine-volume Dictionary of Irish Biography during a reception in St Patrick’s Hall at Dublin Castle last night. For more details, please click Irish Times.

Without its Ha'penny Bridge, more than 30% of us don't recognize Dublin
An incredible 32% of Irish people were stumped by an image of their capital city when the memorable bridge was airbrushed out of the picture. While 68% weren't fooled, 28% confused the image of Dublin with Amsterdam. For mpre details, please click The Irish World.

Westlife's Gately tribute at Childline concert
Westlife paid an emotional tribute to fellow boyband star Stephen Gately dedicating their headline show to his memory at the Cheerios Childline concert at Dublin's 02 arena last night. For more details, please click Irish Herald.

McCann wins top US fiction prize
Irish-born writer Colum McCann’s latest novel Let the Great World Spin has scooped the top prize for fiction at the US National Book Awards. McCann's novel defeated four other books shortlisted in the fiction category. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit & Related Deatils: RTE

'Old Moore' goes wild and predicts three months of sun
Old Moore's Almanac is known for its wild predictions but the 2010 edition has gone completely mad by predicting a magnificent summer from June until August. It also predicts the discovery of the Irish Crown Jewels.For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Amazon

November 18
Lady of Mount Stewart, RIP
Lady Mairi Bury of Mount Stewart in Co. Down and the daughter of the 7th Marquess of Londonderry has died at the age of 88. The Londonderrys were a highly influential aristocratic family in the early 20th century. For more details, please click BBC.

France v Republic of Ireland
Robbie Keane has challenged his Republic of Ireland team-mates to come off the pitch at the Stade de France tonight with no regrets. France striker Thierry Henry does not believe Ireland will take to the field at the Stade de France intent on revenge. For more details, please click RTE.

By train, plane and automobile the fans arrived from all points
As the 11 players who will take to the pitch tonight ate breakfast in their Portmarnock hotel ahead of an 11am flight, hundreds of supporters were already in the air while others will move out today. For more details, please click Irish Independent.

Irish speakers out in force at Embassy
More than 60 people gathered in Belgravia to receive the Fainne – the golden badge that denotes fluency in Irish. This is the largest known single award of the Fainne in Britain since the 1920s. For more details, please click Irish World.


Continental market opens in Belfast
Belfast Continental Market was officially opened yesterday and hundreds of people were already queueing up to be the first to sample everything from croque monsieurs to paella. For more details, please click Belfast Telegraph.

Irish poets penning Indian verse
Poetry is becoming a Northern Ireland growth export. A band of Irish poets is taking part in a language festival in Kolkata, India and it's believed to be the first event of its kind. For more details, please click BBC.


Fans in frenzy as Jedward visit Dublin
The twins were in Dublin to film a feature for the talent show. From the minute their plane touched down in Dublin Airport a wild chase ensued with new leads on their location swiftly followed by dead ends. For details, please click RTE.

November 17
Packed carriages, late trains: normal service resumes over Malahide viaduct
It has been three months since the Malahide viaduct collapsed but repairs are complete two weeks ahead of schedule leading to jokes among commuters about this being the first time Iarnród Éireann had ever been early. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Dara Mac Dónaill

RTÉ secures rights to France match
RTÉ has secured the rights to broadcast the second leg of Ireland's World Cup playoff against France in Paris tomorrow night. RTÉ will broadcast the match on television, radio and online - within the Republic of Ireland. For more details. please click RTE.

Medal winner describes the thrill of making discoveries
Science has it all, the thrill of discovery, explaining how the world works and the possibility of helping others. “Science really can save the world,” says the winner of the 2009 RDS/ Irish Times Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Cyril Byrne

Saoirse flies in to cut ribbon on Bird of Prey Centre
Hollywood star Saoirse Ronan was in her native Co Carlow recently to open the Woodlands Falconry and Bird of Prey Centre in Rathwood, Tullow. The globetrotting 15-year-old said she is looking forward to spending Christmas in Ireland. For more details, please click Irish Independent.
Photo Credit: Woodlands Falconry and Bird of Prey Centre

Charlize Theron to play lead role in film of Barry's 'Secret Scripture'
The film, which will be shot in Ireland, and produced by Noel Pearson, will see Theron age from a young girl to a 100-year-old inmate of an asylum. Sources close to the film say actor Alan Rickman is being considered to play one of the main characters. For more details, please click Irish Tribune.

Roses reunion celebrates 50 years and a win for Britain
The Rose of Tralee's 50th anniversary celebrations may be over with the crown back in Britain at last, but the good times are still rolling for other Roses down the years. For more details, please click Irish Post.


Ulster Museum snaps up Edward Carson uniform for £43k
The re-vamped Ulster Museum could display ceremonial robes belonging to Sir Edward Carson as part of Ulster Covenant centenary commemorations after snapping them up at auction for £43,000. For more details, please click Belfast Telegraph.

November 16
Regional round-uo fron Antrim to Wicklow
All the news that probably won't make the national headlines: Gold fever mounting in Co. Armagh; Reprieve for the Carna bus in Co. Galway; and a chance to ride with cycling legend in Co. Mayo. To read these and many other news items, please click Irish Emigrant.
Photo Credit: Slieve Gullionwheelers

20-20: Relieved Ireland draw on character and skill
A first draw in 28 meetings between the countries left Australia the more disappointed, Ireland the more relieved, for as draws go, this one didn’t leave the home team or crowd nearly as hollow as their visitors. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Related Story: RTE

Irish US army dead honoured at Knocknagoshel ceremony
More than 100 people gathered in Knocknagoshel on the Kerry-Limerick border at the weekend to honour 10 of its citizens who served as US soldiers in wars spanning the first World War to Vietnam. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: John Reidy

John and Edward in final six
Jedward fans were in rhapsody last night as their idols breezed through another round of the X Factor thanks to the public vote who were spared a repeat of last week’s results show when they were in the bottom two. For more details, please click Belfast telegraph.
Photo Credit & Related Story: Irish Independent

Blooming gorgeous - Broughshane's secret
It's famous for its success in the Britain in Bloom competition but there’s much more to the Co Antrim village of Broughshane than hanging baskets crammed with brightly coloured flowers. For more details, please click Belfast Telegraph.

Centurion Peggy cooks up the recipe for a long life
Meet Peggy Carter who is originally from Co. Tipperary. This amazing lady was born in 1901 and is celebrating her 108th birthday this week making her the oldest Irish woman in Britain! For more details, please click Irish Post.


Posh accents and address a plus for job-seekers?
A new survey of Irish people's attitudes to discrimination has found that a third of them believed a Dublin 4 accent and postcode gives a job-seeker a definite advantage. For more details, please click Irish Herald.
Photo Credit: Irish KC

November 15
Top of the popes?
Take some Gregorian chant, add in the sumptuous strings of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, top it off with the voice of Pope Benedict XVI, mix the whole thing up in the historic studios of London’s Abbey Road, and what do you have? A Christmas chart-topper? For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Franco Origlia/Getty, Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

Bishop challenges Papal ban on women priests
Bishop of Killaloe Willie Walsh has questioned the right of women to be ordained - challenging the papal ban. He also challenged a lesser Vatican rule which refuses the Eucharist to Protestants. For more on this news item, please click BBC.
Photo Credit & Related Details: Breaking News Ireland

Church critical of Knock Shrine spectacle seekers
The Co. Mayo shrine has been in the news following predictions by a Dublin clairvoyant. But some Catholic clergy say that the Shrine’s essential message is in danger of being undermined. For more details, please click Irish Post.

A friend remembers John O’Donohue
Being a friend of the late John O’Donohue was a special experience – a blessing. His presence preceded any words that might later be exchanged. He had a capacity to create a reassurance and make a bridge of understanding that was instinctive, pre-verbal. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit & Related Details: John O'Donohue web site

Ireland let chance slip as French steal ahead
If Ireland are to qualify for next summer's World Cup, they will have to win for the first time in Paris and beat a calibre of team they haven't defeated away from home in a generation. For more details, please click Irish Independent.
Photo Credit & more pictures of the game: RTE

Re-instated: policeman who was airbrushed out of GAA history
The quiet plot at Deansgrange Cemetery gives no clue as to whose final resting place it holds — let alone the role Thomas St George McCarthy played in changing the course of Irish sporting history. For more details, please click Belfast Telegraph.
Photo Credit & Related Story: Lar na Pairce interpretive center of Gaelic Games

In Tipperary, a castle that earns its keep
It was the perfect fixer-upper – Killahara, 16th century castle near Thurles where a cow lived on the top floor. Now it’s a seven-bedroom holiday home for sale at €1 million. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Fergal Shanahan

November 14
Dublin set for €20m extravaganza
It's a rare double sports header which promises a stellar weekend for Irish sport and the battered economy as the nation dons the green jersey for epic battles against France and Australia in soccer and rugby. For more details, please click Irish Independent.
Photo Credit & related Story: Irish Herald

Gearing up for Paris adventure
RTÉ Radio in association with boylesports.com will be on hand in Paris to bring Irish fans the latest news from the Irish camp before and after the second leg of the World Cup play-off. For more details, please click RTE.


"Landmark day for the promotion of the Irish language"
Those are the words of Emer Ní Chéidigh, editor of Foinse, Ireland’s biggest Irish language newspaper which has announced that it will be distributed free every Wednesday, starting 18 November. For more details, please click Irish Independent.
Photo Credit & related Story: RTE

Keeper of the light
Stories trip effortlessly from the lips of Richard Foran, keeper of the lighthouse on Skellig Michael, as he describes the singularity of the keeper’s life and remembers various adventures. For more details, please click Irish Times.

War heroine who lost her medal gets a replacement
ileen Gillian MacDermott who lost a badge of honour on the same day she was awarded it for cracking Nazi codes during World War II has |spoken of her delight that she has been given a new one. For more details please click Belfast telegraph.
Photo Credit: Juneau Empire/For illustration purposes only

Online resource makes books of Irish interest more available
Books of Irish interest held in libraries around the world have become almost instantly available, with the launch of a new service organised by the National Library of Ireland. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Alan Betson

Feisty Irish not wasting a good crisis
Setting up a business might seem a daunting prospect but the recession has done nothing to dampen the entrepreneurial spirit of some. Meet six Celtic cubs who went from bust to boom. For more details, please click
Irish Times.

November 13
Gaels become planters at Stormont
An ash tree has been planted in the Stormont estate to mark the 125th anniversary of the GAA. There are plans to plant 1,000 saplings on the estate. Ash is used to make hurling sticks, and Gaelic clubs in Ulster are to buy five saplings each. For more details, please click BBC.

Druid score int'l hat-trick: three plays in three time zones
While The Gigli Concert by Tom Murphy opened in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, its Enda Walsh play, The New Electric Ballroom continued on stage in New York, and Walsh’s The Walworth Farce touched down in Los Angeles as part of a 16-stop world tour. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit & Related Story: Druid official web site

Divided soccer loyalties of Dublin's French
On Saturday night, the Republic of Ireland will take on France at Croke Park in the first leg of a World Cup qualifier - at stake is a place in South Africa next summer.To meet fans from both sides, please click BBC.

Telly dilemma: Trap versus the twins
Come 8pm on Saturday night, it will be Trap and Robbie versus Jedward, and it will divide households throughout the country like never before. Traditionally, though, huge sporting events dominant ratings figures. For more details, please click Irish Herald.

Jedward twins let their hair down
The twins from Dublin, emerged from rehearsals in London sporting new hairdos ahead of tomorrow night's show. Their famous quiffs were nowhere to be seen. For more on this stoey, please click Belfast Telegraph.

Robbie Williams reunited on stage with Take That
Williams joined band members Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald on stage at London's Royal Albert Hall for the Children In Need concert - but insisted the real reunion was yet to come. For more details, please click Belfast Telegraph.

Born in the back of a BMW at rush-hour in Dublin
This little bundle of joy was delivered by his father, Dr, Wissam Alsahl on the Navan Road yesterday evening. His wife started to give birth in the car after being held up on the gridlocked road. For more details, please click Irish Herald.

November 12
First headstones of Irish soldiers killed in World Wars unveiled
In what was described as a “special day for the cemetery”, the war graves commission unveiled the first of 90 headstones it plans to erect on the graves of servicemen and women who were buried in “paupers’ graves” in Glasnevin Cemetery. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Matt Kavanagh
Related Story: We Remember

President McAleese may join VC battle for Mayne
Republic of Ireland president Mary McAleese could be enlisted in the fight to get what many believe to be a deserved Victoria Cross for Newtownards war hero Blair Mayne, a founding member of the SAS. For more details, please click Belfast Telegraph.

Sparks fly over risque Ryanair calendar
The National Women's Council of Ireland said the no-frills carrier was "irredeemably old-fashioned" for using images of scantily clad women to raise funds for charity. But Ryanair accused the NWCI of not having "a clue how young women empower themselves". For more details please click Irish Independent.

What recession? Irish shoppers set for festive spending spree
Irish households will fork out an average of €1,110 - twice as much as their European counterparts on presents, food and socialising this Christmas. For more details, please click Irish Examiner.
Photo Credit & Related Story: Irish Herald

Curse of Cromwell extended to Ireland's wolf population
It is well known that Oliver Cromwell and his supporters spelt trouble for the native Irish, but their arrival also took a fatal toll on the Irish wolf population, according to a book published this week. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Joel Sartore

Pedal power rules in Connemara
Thirty parishioners from the Parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St George Enfield, North London, took part in a 200km charity bike ride around Connemara at the end of last month. For more details, please click The irish World.


Many Mansions - a poetry book which is itself a piece of art
Comprised of just just 12 poems, on 48 pages, all of them previously unpublished, the limited edition of just 124 co[ies features handmade paper, using letterpress printing and a goatskin binding. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Cecil Byrne

November 11
Armistice Day: The Great War and the words we mustn't forget
Poets and soldiers recorded the horror of the Great War in writing that has affected generations. But as English evolves in the digital age, will their powerful words soon stop making sense? For more details, please click Belfast Telegraph.
Photo Credit: Francis Ledwidge Memorial
ED, NOTE: Francis Edward Ledwidge was an Irish poet who was killed on the first day of the Third Battle of Ypres. He was serving with the 1st Battalion of the Irish Regiment the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. His biography and a sampling of his poetry can be found here: Francis Ledwidge

Stories of forgotten WWII fallen told at last
The untold stories of more than 1,600 Irish recruits who lost their lives in the Second World War have been documented in a new academic research project unveiled at Stormont. For more details, please click Belfast Telegraph.
Photo Credit: Corbis/Irish Soldiers in Training WWII

Enigma decoder finally got her medal after 65 years - then lost it
Aileen Gillian MacDermott had waited for 65 years for official recognition of the vital work she did. But shortly after she received her badge last Friday, she lost it while walking her dog. For more details, please click Belfast Telegraph.
Photo Credit& Related Story: BBC

Children in Ireland 'happier and healthier'
Children in Ireland are happier and healthier than their neighbours in the UK, according to a new report conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organisation. For more details, please click RTE.
Photo Credit & Related Story: The Irish World

Banking on meat to beat recession
Former Anglo Irish Bank worker Brian O'Leary left the high stakes finance world earlier this year to get his teeth in to the family business, Dublin Meat Company. For more details, please click Irish Herald.

Tycoons clash over plans for Ballsbridge
Tycoon Dermot Desmond, who strongly objected to Sean Dunne's original proposal, has now opposed the scaled-down version of the project, calling Dunne's latest high-rise plans for Ballsbridge "bland and uninteresting". For more details, please click Irish Herald.
Photo Credit & related Story: RTE

Santa oversees arrival of Belfast's Christmas tree
With fairy lights twinkling from shop windows and Santa Stop Here signs appearing in gardens, it seems the festive season is well and truly under way. And in case there was any doubt, there is the small matter of a 48ft tree to remind us. Fir more details, please click Belfast Telegraph.

November 10
Donegal brain surgeon at work in AD 800?
A multitude of insights about life and death in Gaelic Ireland were gleaned following the discovery of an unknown medieval church and the graves of about 1,300 men, women and children who lived along the banks of the river Erne. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit & Related Story: Institute of Technology, Sligo

Historic hotel facade saved
While the 222-year-old Lawless Hotel in Aughrim, Co Wicklow, was extensively damaged after a fire broke out on Monday, fire crews managed to stop it spreading to the front of the hotel. For more on this story, please click Irish Independent.
Photo Credit & Related Details: Garry O'Neill/Irish Times

Irish literary classics to be relaunched
Classics of Irish literature from the Sairseal O Marcaigh publishing House are being re-issued. Previously known as Sairseal agus Dill, the publishing house was founded in 1945 and aimed to develop Irish-language literature as well as assist Irish-language writers. For more details, please click Galway Independent.
Photo Credit & Related Story: GaelPort

"Canal plan spoils our view" says Guinness
Guinness bosses have come out against a planned major office, hotel and apartment complex because it could obscure views from the Storehouse Gravity Bar. The developers have been told to go back to the drawing board. For more details please click Irish Herald.
Photo Credit: Manfred's Travel Pictures

Businessman auctions Troubles collection
A Belfast businessman is auctioning off a collection of art he amassed during the Troubles worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. More than 3,000 items are being sold without reserve. For more details, please click BBC.

Culture at the castle
Dr. Michael Ryan is the director of the Chester Beatty Library at Dublin Castle. It houses the country’s most valuable collection - just don’t ask him how much it’s worth, For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Matt Kavanagh

Ireland finds its Elvis in Bundoran
Elvis impersonator Tom Gilson has been crowned “King” at the national Elvis impersonator competition in Donegal. The 39-year-old book-binder will now represent Ireland against 15 other nations in the first Elvis World Cup. For more details, please click Irish World.

November 9
Regional round-up from Antrim to Wicklow
All the news that probably won't make the national headlines: Paddy Reillys gather in Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan; Leo Finn from Gort, Co. Galway is crowned new King of the Culchies; and no-go for jet-skis on Lake Muckno in Co. Monaghan. To read these news items and many others, please click Irish Emigrant.
Photo Credit: SkyLens/
Lake Muckno


Ceremony for fallen UN soldiers remembers families left behind
Yesterday, at the UN memorial garden at Arbour Hill in Dublin, a wreath-laying ceremony took place to remember the 90 Irish men killed while serving on UN peacekeeping missions paid special tribute to their families. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit:Matt Kavanagh

'Jedward' saved by X Factor fans
Lucie Jones has became the fifth contestant to leave ITV1's The X Factor, losing out following a sing-off with twins John and Edward Grimes. For more details, please click BBC.
Photo Credit & Relatd Story: Irish Examiner

The game of hurling is set to reach new heights - in the Himalayas
The people of Nepal will shortly be treated to the strange sight of five Galway hurlers competing in a poc fada competition on the famous mountain range. For more details, please click Irish Independent.
Photo Credit: MBC Nepal Missions/John

Crystal plant to open in Waterford city
The new company WWRD (Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton), trading as Waterford Prestige Company, plans to start production in Waterford city centre by the beginning of next June. For more details, please click Irish Times.

Flesh and ink bared without a blush at tattoo gathering
About 130 tattoo artists from all over the world drew crowds to Ballsbridge for the Dublin Tattoo Convention 2009 – the seventh such event organised by piercing artist Paddy O’Donohoe. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Cyril Byrne

Campaign launched to save Cork's Kino cinema
Hopes that Cork’s independently owned Kino cinema may be saved from closure received a major boost over the weekend when more than 300 people attended a public meeting to launch a campaign to save the facility. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo credit & Related Details: Save The Kino web site

November 8
Remembrance Sunday Services taking place
Ceremonies marking Remembrance Sunday are taking place in towns and cities across Northern Ireland. A two-minute silence will be observed at 1100 GMT to remember soldiers who died in armed conflict. For more details, please click BBC.

Mass attendance in Ireland is up
That's according to a new survey. David Quinn, director of the Iona Institute, said the poll bore out anecdotal evidence that church attendance has been increasing since the recession began. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: The Jesuits in Ireland

Knock's man of vision - Who is he?
His name is Joe Coleman, 55-year old Dubliner. And he is in the news because he claims to have had apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Knock, and elsewhere, and he has forecast more such apparitions. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo credit & Related Story: Brenda Fitzsimons/Irish Times

Bishop tells pilgrims to stay away from apparitions site
The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, has strongly appealed to Catholics intending to travel to Knock next month to stay away from a predicted apparition of the Virgin Mary on December 5. For more details please click Belfast Telegraph.
Photo Credit & Related Story: Irish Tribune

McIlroy claims fourth in Shanghai
Rory McIlroy posted a course record to claim fourth place at the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai. It moves the Northern Irishman up to second place in the Race to Dubai. For more details, please click BBC.

Erin go free
You don’t have to go far, or spend a lot of money, to get away from it all. Here are 10 ideas for days out that will cost you little more than the price of a picnic and some petrol. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Hession/Tourism Ireland

Go West(port)!
Co. Mayo, jutting majestically into the Atlantic Ocean, boasts a beautiful, unspoilt environment, and Westport, nestled in the south-east corner of Clew Bay, is the jewel in its crown. For more details, please click Irish World.

November 7
War dead to be commemorated
Ex-service groups from both sides of the Border will stand shoulder to shoulder and pay tribute to the war dead at the only all-Ireland remembrance event on the island. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Related Story: Belfast Telegraph
Photo Credit: Daliscar

Leading literary lights lend hands to UN anthology
Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, writers Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright and artist Louis Le Brocquy were among some of Ireland's most distinguished writers and artists in attendance last night as former President Mary Robinson launched a new book celebrating the UN Declaration of Human Rights. For more details, please click Irish Independent.
Photo Credit & Related Story: The Irish Times

O'Driscoll comes top of his class with college accolade
Two Brians returned to their alma mater last night- grand-slam winning captain Brian O'Driscoll and Taoiseach Brian Cowen - who were awarded one of UCD's highest honours. For more details, please click Irish Independent.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/odriscoll-comes-top-of-his-class-with-college-accolade-1936646.html

Blarney Castle owner donates family archives
The owner of Blarney Castle has donated his entire family archive to the Cork City and County Archives. The Colthurst collection provides a remarkable insight into the lives of three of Cork’s great merchant families over three centuries. For more details, please click Irish Examiner.
Photo Credit: What About Paris

Three-bed Kenmare homes selling for €130k
The Kerry town once voted by Forbes Magazine as one of the Top Ten places worldwide to retire has houses cheap enough that even reduced pension retirees can aspire to. For more details, please click Irish Examiner.
Photo Credit: My Town

Long life attributed to avoiding marriage and medicine
t’s hard to fit 107 candles on a cake, but relatives and staff at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Roscommon town did their best yesterday to mark Kathleen Murray’s birthday. For more details, please click Irish Times.


Darts set to run at 15-minute intervals
The new overhaul of the timetable system will bring great benefits to commuters who can now discard their timetables safe in the knowledge that trains will be run in 15-minute intervals. For more details, please click Irish Herald.
http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/darts-set-to-run-at-15minute-intervals-1935006.html
Photo Credit: Doc Pics/Dublin Scenes

November 6
U2 strike emotional chord with Berliners on night of celebration
Nearly 20 years after recording their famous album Achtung Baby here, Bono and the boys from U2 rocked the Brandenburg Gate last night before 10,000 cheering fans. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

RTE's Morning Ireland celebrates 25 years
Morning Ireland broadcasts live to 461,000 people every morning, but it was the 100 listeners who turned up in person to watch the special anniversary show yesterday who had the presenters and crew uncharacteristically nervous. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Eric Luke

Waterford theatre reopens
Over the past 15 months, the Georgian building, built in 1784 to a design by architect John Roberts, underwent its first major restoration since Victorian times and has been restored in the Victorian style. For morre details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit: Emagine Media

Soldiers awarded Afghan medals
Soldiers recently returned from Afghanistan have been receiving medals at their base in Ballykinler, County Down.Their six month tour of duty saw 2 Rifles lose 13 men, with 80 injured. For more details, please click BBC.

Fatima Mansions: "The best place to grow up in Dublin”
That was how how President Mary McAleese described the redeveloped Fatima Mansions complex in Dublin where she addressed a group of about 500 south inner-city residents and their children. For more details, please click Irish Times.
Photo Credit & Related Story: Irish Herald

An Post's undeliverable items second class?
Amid the smell of musk and newspaper racks, cuckoo clocks and a statue of the Virgin Mary, the punters gathered. Loads of them. They spilled out of the auction room doors, straining on tiptoe to get a glimpse of the lots. For more details, please click Irish Times.

Gleeson shooting movie in the West
Brendan Gleeson and American actor Don Cheadle are shooting a new comedy thriller in the West of Ireland. 'The Guard' tells the story of an unorthodox Garda who joins forces with a stuffy FBI agent to catch an international drug smuggling gang. For morre details, please click RTE.



Fri, Nov 20, 2009


From Bog Land to Turf Fire

Ireland contains more bog land, relatively speaking, than any country in Europe, except Finland. For people in rural areas, turf cut from the bog is still a natural source of heat. Turf cutting begins in spring and then the turf is spread and rickled . Rickled means to pile the turf up in small mounds. By summer, the turf is dry and it's time to bring it home. Everything has to be prepared before the winter comes, or even earlier, because the rain would wet the turf too much. It has to be dry and in the shed before Autumn. Then and only then, can an irish country family look foreward to the cozy warmth of "a turf fire in the cabin."

Resources: The Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape
Image: Spirited ireland

Click for More Culture Corner.



Links to the latest news from Ireland

Here you will find all the stories making headlines throughout the Republic of Ireland and the six counties to the north. This is not intended to be an all-inclusive list. These are the main sources we check every day to bring you those headlines we think you will enjoy reading.

BBC Northern Ireland
Belfast Telegraph
Breaking News Ireland
Irish Emigrant
Irish Examiner
Irish Herald
Irish Independent
Irish Post
Irish Times
The Irish Tribune

RTE
The Irish World



Lie of the Land
by Fintan O’Toole

A regular contributor to the irish Times and The Guardian, O’Toole applies his eagle journalistic eye to the state of ireland at the end of the 20th century. It’s a riveting read as O’Toole examines with in-insight, humour and a bit of the blarney, the repercussions of a booming economy which has thrust ireland into the ranks of the richest European countries.
Click here for Lie of the land.




 

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